Leaders give Hampton's newest police chief high marks

Terry Sult, 56, now the director of public safety of a police department…

September 12, 2013|By Peter Dujardin, pdujardin@dailypress.com

HAMPTON — Many in Hampton's leadership appear willing to welcome the city's newly hired police chief to town, saying Terry Sult seems to have the right qualifications and disposition for the job of leading the city's police force.

Gaylene Kanoyton, the head of Hampton Watch and chairwoman of the Hampton Democratic Party, was on the search committee that helped pick Sult.

"I think he's going to be a great asset all the way around," Kanoyton said Thursday. "He clearly has a wealth of knowledge in the public safety field. What really impressed me the most is that he understands the importance of being involved in the community and partnering with the community."

Sult, 56, has worked in Sandy Springs, Ga. — with a population of about 94,000 residents — for the past five years, first as police chief and then as director of public safety.

Before that, he served four years as the police chief in Gastonia, N.C., a city in southwest North Carolina with about 72,000 residents. He also had a 27-year career with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, N.C., Police Department.

Sult's selection marks the first time in at least 34 years that Hampton has hired a police chief from outside the department.

In the national search, 55 candidates applied for the job, City Manager Mary Bunting said.

Of those, she said, 13 were chosen for telephone interviews. After that, six applicants were advanced to the panels that assessed the candidates by asking them how they would deal with a series of mock scenarios. (Only four people took part in those assessments, however, because two decided not to go forward for personal reasons).

Four candidates completed the assessment team panels, Bunting said. Those four applicants also participated in the face-to-face interviews with a six-member interview panel made up of Bunting, two assistant city managers, the city attorney, a former police chief and the acting police chief.

"The actual selection relied on the recommendations of the citizens and staff who went through the assessment panels, interviews with all of the final candidates, the background check information and, ultimately, my personal assessment of the best fit for our community," she said.

Bunting offered the job to Sult earlier this week, she said.

Given that Sult is retired with 27 years of experience from Charlotte-Mecklenberg, he likely doesn't need to work, Kanoyton pointed out. But, she said, he "clearly must love the job."

Being an outsider, Kanoyton said, will likely serve Sult well. She said she believes diversity on a police force is important to Sult, and that he has a demonstrated knowledge of technology and emergency management.

"He clearly has the background that Hampton needs," she said. "Because Hampton has many challenges, it's important to have a strong leader that is going to be able to train the next generation of police officers."

Kanoyton was on a group of 12 assessors, broken up into three teams of four panelists, that helped select candidates. Each of the three teams gave each candidate a mock "problem solving" scenario. The applicants had 30 minutes to write up a response and present it to the group as to how they would respond to that scenario.

The panelists then scored each applicant on how well he or she performed, Kanoyton said.

She also said she did a lot of her own research on Sult and "I couldn't find anything negative."

"Everybody should give the chief a chance — to get to know him as he gets to know us," Kanoyton said. "He clearly has the record. We just need to give him a chance."

Hampton City Council member Will Moffett, who wasn't on the selection committee, said he thought it was a good thing that Sult would provide "fresh eyes and experienced eyes in looking at our department and our city."

"If I was doing the selection, I probably would have chosen him also," Moffett said. "I think Sult would have risen to the top of my list as well."

"He appears to have a wide range of experience — some big (police departments), some small, some diverse, some not so diverse. ... History will be the judge. We have to give him the opportunity to start off with a clean slate. I really look forward to the opportunity to meet him."

Rudy Langford, president of the Coalition for Justice for Civil Rights, said his coalition will be monitoring Sult — just as it has monitored other chiefs.

"We haven't had the opportunity to ask him the questions," Langford said. "But we'll be watching him like white on rice. ... We expect him to be fair and transparent doing it."

Langford said he objected to the fact that his organization was not included in the search committee, pointing out that the coalition has filed numerous complaints against police officers and the department throughout the years.